Wylde (Arizona Vengeance 7)

He merely shrugs, looping his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “What can I say? I’m proud of this woman, and I would sing it from the mountaintops if I could.”

“Well, thank you,” Clarke says with a gracious incline of her head. “That clearly helped bring in the crowd.”

“Yeah… thanks, baby,” Pepper croons, tipping her head so she can receive a kiss from Legend.

I’m vaguely relieved Clarke thinks this was all Legend’s doing, though it does shine a glaring light on an issue that is still pervasively complicated within our relationship. I’m not sure she would have liked me using social media to spotlight her. She’s still so very wary about fame and limelight, so she might have been offended if she’d known I’d done it.

Of course, she might have been incredibly grateful, too, but it’s not something I would know as I don’t intend to tell her what I did. I don’t need praise from her, and I certainly don’t want her ire. I’m happy to just let well enough ride.

After we finish our champagne, Legend and Pepper leave the store. Veronica and I help clean up, straightening the shelves, and I run the vacuum cleaner. There’s no crowd outside when we open the store back up around three.

Veronica takes her leave, so I settle into one of the reading chairs, content to spend the rest of the day here with Clarke. I’m going home with her after Nina comes in for the evening shift, and I have nothing else to do until then.

“I’m going to ask you something, and I hope it doesn’t freak you out,” Clarke says out of the blue. I’ve been thumbing through a book of poetry that I’m not connecting with, but I’ve never really been into it to begin with. That certainly hasn’t changed with maturation.

I look up, not concerned in the slightest over her freaking me out. I like her way too much to let anything bother me. “What’s up?”

“How would you feel about meeting my parents?” she asks hesitantly.

I blink in surprise, not because this is an unwarranted request or too soon. In fact, it seems about the right time.

I have a moment of shock—maybe more awe than anything—that Clarke clearly thinks this is serious, much in the same way I do, even though we haven’t quite yet voiced it to each other yet.

“You know, I’ve never once in my entire adult life been asked to meet a woman’s parents,” I reply with a crooked smile.

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not so sure you’ve bothered asking a woman her last name before.”

A bark of laughter erupts from me, and I love she can make light of my reputation. I spring up from my chair and snag her around the waist, pulling her back down into the same chair with me.

“I’d love to meet your parents,” I say before inclining my head and pressing my lips to her neck.CHAPTER 21Clarke“Stop fidgeting,” Aaron commands and I shoot him a side-eyed glare from the passenger seat of his truck.

“I can’t help it,” I mutter, but I clasp my hands tightly together in an effort to stop my nervous squirming. “You know how you’ve never met a woman’s parents before?”

Aaron whips his head my way, his gaze on me far too long since he’s actually driving, but then he moves his attention back out the windshield. “You mean to tell me you’ve never brought a man home to meet your parents?”

“Of course I have,” I snap, frustrated he isn’t getting the significance of my discomfort. “I’ve brought a few home before.”

“Gee,” Aaron drawls, his voice dry as the desert floor. “I feel so special.”

I snort and grab his hand, which is within reach since his arm is resting casually on the center console. Sliding my fingers between his, I squeeze. “You should feel special, because those other dudes I brought home were easy.”

“Not making me feel better,” he mutters.

“What I mean is they were all perfectly nice and uncomplicated, so it was easy to bring them over for a dinner with my parents. You’re…”

“Not uncomplicated?” he guesses.

I shift to face him. While he doesn’t look, keeping his attention firmly on the road, I know I have his full focus by the way he stills. “You’re the best kind of complicated. And it makes this visit far more important than any other, which is the reason for my fidgeting.”

Aaron finally spares me a glance. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about me.”

“I know, right?” I quip back with a grin. “Who would have thought I’d like complicated?”

Aaron pulls my hand to his mouth, then kisses my palm before drawing it down to rest in his lap for the rest of the ride to my parents’ house.

When we arrive, I take a deep breath as Aaron pulls into the driveway behind my father’s Cadillac. They still live in the same house I grew up in. Whenever I see the glowing lights within, it always brings me a measure of comfort. My parents have been looking forward to meeting the man I have seemingly taken a big chance on, as I think they’ve all but given up on me finding someone to have a solid relationship with.